Ramana Maharshi

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Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharhshi (1879-1950) was a Hindu sage and self-realized master, from southern India. He taught the direct method to attain self-realization by self-enquiry.

It was about six week before I left Madurai for good that the great change in my life took place. It was quite sudden. I was sitting alone in a room on the first floor of my uncle's house.

Ramana Maharshi was born Venkataraman Iyer on 30 December 1879 in the village Tiruchuzhi near Madurai (a major city) in Tamil Nadu, South India.

I seldom had any sickness, and on that day there was nothing wrong with my health but a sudden violent fear of death overtook me. There was nothing in my state of health to account for it, and I did not try to account for it or to find out whether there was any reason for the fear. I just felt that I am going to die and began thinking what to do about it. It did not occur to me to consult a doctor or my elders or friends. I felt that I had to solve the problem myself, there and then.

The shock of the fear of death drove my mind inwards and I said to myself mentally, without actually framing the words: Now death has come; what does it mean? What is it that is dying? This body dies.. and I at once dramatised the occurrence of death. I lay with my limbs stretched out stiff as though rigor mortis had set in and imitated a corpse so as to give greater reality to the enquiry.

I held my breath and kept my lips tightly closed so that no sound could escape, so that neither the word 'I' nor any other word could be uttered. I said to my self, 'this body is dead. It will be carried stiff to the burning ground and there burnt and reduced to ashes.' But with the death of this body, am I dead? Is the body 'I'? It is silent and inert but I feel the full force of my personality and even the voice of the 'I' within me, apart from it. So I am Spirit transcending the body.

The body dies but the Spirit that transcends it cannot be touched by death. That means I am the deathless Spirit. All this was not dull thought; it flashed through me vividly as living truth which I perceived directly, almost without thought-process.

'I' was something very real, the only real thing about my present state, and all the conscious activity connected with my body was centered on that 'I'. From that moment onwards the 'I' or Self focused attention on itself by a powerful fascination. Fear of death had vanished once and for all. Absorption in the Self continued unbroken from that time on.

Other thoughts might come and go like the various notes of music, but the 'I' continued like the fundamental sruti note that underlies and blends with all the other notes.

Sruti: The monotone persisting through a Hindu piece of music, like the thread on which beads are strung, represent the Self persisting through all the forms of being.

Whether the body was engaged in talking, reading or anything else, I was still centered on 'I'. Previous to that crisis I had no clear perception of my Self and was not consciously attracted to it. I felt no perceptible or direct interest in it, much less any inclination to dwell permanently in it.

Your own Self-realization is the greatest service you can render the world - Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi.

Self-inquiry: Turn away from the apparent cause of the issue, but look inward into yourself, and analyze yourself why you feel the way you feel. It is hard to change other people. We should not always blame other people. See why you feel the way you feel, and try to change yourself rather than trying to change other people. Ask yourself 'What am I? Who am I? Who is this "I" that is unhappy? Who is this "I"? My thoughts come and go. Feelings come and go. So am I? These feelings come and go, so it is not me. I am not unhappy.'.

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